


Boundaries

by SkadiLaughedFirst, Wish_I_Had_A_Tail



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Boundaries, Communication, Cultural Differences, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, No Boundaries - Freeform, Other, symbrock, wholesome relationship content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 03:09:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18541075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadiLaughedFirst/pseuds/SkadiLaughedFirst, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wish_I_Had_A_Tail/pseuds/Wish_I_Had_A_Tail
Summary: In symbiosis, Venom and Eddie have found their perfect other half. But Venom is still getting used to Earth. And Eddie still hasn't quite grasped what it means to move from an I to a We.





	Boundaries

**Author's Note:**

> So neither of us write fluff. But we liked Venom and wanted to get in on the Symbrock fluff train. Hope you enjoy :)

Eddie woke up piece by piece. He yawned and felt the salt breeze through his hair and against his cheek. Then he heard the sirens and the squeal of stalled traffic. He opened one eye.

**Don’t be mad,** Venom rumbled in his head. Eddie opened his other eye and found himself teetering over miles of open water. He closed his eyes and immediately tightened his grip on the cables of the bridge.

“Where are we?” Eddie managed shakily.

**The striped red bridge where people jump to their deaths.**

“The Golden Gate Bridge?” Eddie shrieked. “Why?”

**I wanted to jump** , Venom explained. **Not to our deaths, obviously** , he clarified at the alarmed images that flashed through Eddie’s mind.

“Sir,” a voice screeched through a megaphone somewhere above them, “can I come down and talk to you for a minute?”

“We need to leave,” Eddie said through gritted teeth. “Now.”

Eddie felt an alien flash of excitement go through them – he realized Venom’s intent a moment too late when his hands let go of the cables and his feet stepped forward off the bridge of their own accord. He barely had time to scream as the morning air whistled by them. Then they hit the freezing waves. He felt the shock of cold for a moment until Venom enveloped him and started carrying them toward the shore.

_Why couldn’t we just climb up?_ Eddie lamented.

**This was more fun,** Venom thought cheerfully. **And you told me we don’t talk to police.**

The worst part was that he had a good point. They reached the gravel beach and came ashore, Venom slipping back into Eddie as they walked unsteadily toward the street. Eddie took a step and felt the rough pavement under his bare feet. Looking down, he did a mournful assessment of his appearance.

“Venom,” he started to ask, “why are we outside at like 6 in the morning with no _pants,_ hanging off the side of the Golden Gate Bridge?”

**I asked you not to be mad,** Venom pointed out.

“Well, you’re gonna have to help me here.” Eddie took a steadying breath. “What happened last night?”

**You were doing that human thing you do. Where you lie still and do nothing for _hours._**

“Sleeping?” Eddie clarified.

**Yes.**

“I do that every night.”

**But I don’t,** Venom groused. Eddie tried to remember whether or not sleeping had come up before.

“Were you… worried?” Eddie guessed.

**I was bored.**

Eddie processed that comment for a moment. “So you took my body—”

**Our body,** Venom corrected. Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Our body,” he amended, “for a joyride?”

**You weren’t using it,** Venom argued.

“Okay,” Eddie clapped their hands together, “we need to have a discussion about boundaries! But on the beach in my boxers is not the place to do it.” Before he had even finished speaking, Venom oozed out from the pores of their legs and shaped himself into something like trousers. As an afterthought, a few more tendrils seeped out of their feet.

**Better?** Venom asked. Eddie took a deep breath.

“Let’s just get home.” He took a step, then froze. “Where are my keys? Did you bring my keys? Or my wallet?”

**I brought both** , Venom announced proudly.

“But somehow you forgot pants?”

**You had pants on,** Venom replied, tugging at Eddie’s boxers underneath. **It was warm. I didn’t think you would need two.**

Eddie decided to pick his battles. “My keys,” he repeated. “Do we still have them?”

**They will need to be retrieved.**

“Right. Lead the way,” Eddie said reluctantly. Venom took control of their feet and started to walk them down the road. “You’ve been here for a couple weeks now,” he commented as they waited for the light to change. “You never told me you were bored when I sleep.”

Venom scoffed. **Did you think I was entertained?**

“I thought you were also asleep,” Eddie shrugged. “I can leave you on a movie or something.” Venom rippled affectionately against Eddie’s legs. “You don’t need sleep?”

**No,** Venom answered simply. **Does everything on Earth sleep?**

Eddie paused. “We’ll have to google that.” Abruptly, Venom stopped them and Eddie looked up at the blinking neon beer bottle in the window of the bar in front of them. Multicoloured string lights looped over the windows and a few bright plastic stools leaned against the wall. “This is where we left my stuff?”

**The owner said to leave your keys,** Venom filled him in. **He didn’t seem bad enough to eat.**

“Just because you don’t eat someone,” Eddie said patiently, “doesn’t mean you have to do everything they say.”

**Noted. But I saw no reason to argue.**

Eddie opened the door, shaking his head. A man was stacking barstools upside-down onto the tables, closing up. He spotted Eddie and his brows shot up in surprise. “Didn’t expect to see you here this early,” he said. “Thought you’d still be sleeping… whatever you were on, off.”

Eddie faked a pleasant smile. “Just back for my keys,” he said amiably.

“Sure.” The man disappeared behind the counter. His voice carried through the little bar. “Gotta say, you’re a pretty funny guy.” He bobbed back into view, Eddie’s keys in hand.

“Really? Funny how?” Eddie asked. The man shrugged.

“You know, all the alien stuff. ‘There’s so many colours on this planet, but you drink poison’,” he mimicked. “That whole bit.” He handed Eddie the keychain.

"Thanks, man.” Eddie grinned, nodded, and left the bar forever. “Venom,” he groaned once they were outside. “We agreed we can’t talk about you being an alien with other people.”

**I didn’t.**

“Then what was all that about colours on the planet?”

**Merely an observation. Am I allowed to make _those_?**

“People who’ve only been on one planet usually don’t make observations about it,” Eddie countered. “If you’re planning on using my… our body without supervision, you’re gonna have to blend in better.”

**I was being polite.**

“Humans aren’t polite,” Eddie advised. Venom’s chuckles echoed in their head. Eddie held his keys aimlessly in their hand for a moment, before he felt Venom shift against their hip. He dropped them into the newly-formed pocket. “Thanks.”

**Humans aren’t polite?**

“Whatever. You said you took my wallet, too?”

**We always take your wallet when we leave the house.**

“Okay, sure. Good job. Where is it?” He felt Venom’s momentary hesitation. “I really don’t like that you’ve gotta think about that.”

**We will ask Stacy.**

“Who the fuck is Stacy?”

**I like Stacy. She offered me a good time.** Venom paused. **That was an innuendo.**

“Oh my God,” Eddie groaned, pinching the bridge of their nose. “Did you have sex with a prostitute?”

**_We,_** Venom stressed, **did not have sex with anyone last night.** Eddie felt their face grin. **But we did have a good time.** Before Eddie could probe further, Venom marched them along. **This way** , he announced.

Venom walked them into progressively seedier parts of town. Eddie whipped their head nervously around, while Venom forced it forward and remarked on the quality of the graffiti on the walls.

“What is it with you and colours?” Eddie asked.

Venom answered, **I only started seeing them when I met you.**

Eddie felt their cheeks heat up and couldn’t suppress a small smile. “Aw,” he crooned. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” Eddie hugged their body, wrapping their arms around themselves.

There was a long silent moment.

**Klyntar do not possess colour photoreceptors,** Venom said awkwardly. Eddie let their arms drop.

“So, Stacy’s place, then?” he mumbled.

**Right here,** Venom announced. He screeched them to a halt in front of the bright sign of a payday loan shop.

“Here?” Eddie frowned. Venom moved their finger to a buzzer hidden to the left, and pressed the button. A woman’s drowsy voice crackled through the intercom.

“What?”

Eddie felt tendrils curling in their throat. **“Can we come up?”** Venom’s voice boomed from their mouth. Eddie pulled their finger back.

“You’re gonna scare her!” Eddie gasped the moment he regained control of his voice. The intercom buzzed.

“Hey! You’re back. Yeah, come on up.”

With a pop, the door unlocked and Eddie climbed up the dim stairwell to the second floor landing. The door opened before they could knock. A young woman with short black hair and peeling, scaly skin around her scalp beamed up at them. “Venom!” she grinned. “Come in!”

“Um.” Eddie jabbed a thumb into his chest. “Eddie.”

“Oh, you’re awake!” Stacy exclaimed. She stepped aside so they could walk in. Eddie’s Venom-shoes slurped back into their skin as they stepped over the threshold. Eddie took stock of the black-and-white monster movie prints tacked around the sparsely furnished apartment. “We have to be quiet,” she said, dropping her voice. “Jenni’s sleeping.”

Venom crept out through Eddie’s shirt and grinned toothily at her. **“Did I leave a wallet?”**

“Okay, slow down,” Eddie balked. He turned to Stacy, who seemed unfazed. “Did you… see Venom last night? Like, see _him_ ,” he held a hand up a few feet above their head, “not _us_?”

“Sure,” Stacy said. She waited while Eddie processed the news.

“Cool. Okay,” Eddie took a deep breath. “Alright.” Venom’s head leaned back to rub against Eddie’s cheek. Eddie closed his eyes. “Just another little talk,” he made a mental note. “About being discreet.”

“You guys don’t have to worry about that with me,” Stacy jumped in. “If you’d been discreet last night, I’d probably be dead.”

**“Victor was attacking her,”** Venom supplied.

“Who’s Victor?” Eddie sputtered.

Venom chuckled. **“He was dinner.”** Stacy tittered behind her hand, and Venom laughed louder. Eddie looked back and forth between them.

“Okay,” he managed.

Stacy snapped her fingers. “Wallet, right?” Eddie nodded numbly. Stacy walked over to her kitchen and pulled open a drawer. “Ta-da,” she grinned, handing the wallet to Eddie. Venom’s tendrils trickled out of Eddie’s wrist and pulled it into their hand. Stacy squealed with delight. “Awesome.” Her eyes jumped from the receding black coils to Eddie’s oddly glistening pants. “Is Venom being your pants right now?”

“Long story,” Eddie said. He held up the wallet. “Thanks for holding onto this.”

“Yeah, totally, no problem,” Stacy yawned.

“We’ll get out of your hair,” Eddie said, slipping the wallet into a second Venom-provided pocket.

**“See you around,”** Venom grinned, melting back into their shoulder.

“Yeah, come over any time,” Stacy said, waving. Eddie waved back as he closed the door.

**So… you’re starting to feel mad.**

“Just… what exactly did you do last night?” Eddie leaned heavily on the railing as they walked down the stairs. “Because I’m getting tired of all the surprises.”

**You take us places all the time without telling me where we are going,** Venom protested.

“Yeah, but you’re _conscious_ ,” Eddie said. “And when you ask me, I tell you.”

**I can’t tell you anything while you are ‘asleep’.**

“Can’t we just stay home while I’m asleep?”

**What if I asked you to just go nowhere and stay still for one third of your waking hours?** Venom challenged. **Not fair.**

“It’s my body!” Eddie burst out. He regretted it as soon as he felt Venom wince.

**It’s supposed to be ours.**

“I guess I’m just…” Eddie struggled to find the words. “It’s an adjustment. A big one.”

**It is for me, too. Everything on this planet is new and I don’t know anything here except what you know.** Venom paused nervously. **And I’m not used to sharing.**

That threw Eddie for a moment. “What do you mean?” He had a sudden thought. “Am I your first host?”

Venom chose his words carefully. **I have had hosts before. But they have always been _mine_. I have never been part of an _our_.**

“So…” Eddie thought out loud. “Back on Klyntar, is it like… always like last night? You’re always in control, whether they want you to be or not?” Venom bristled but didn’t disagree. “And what happens when you let the hosts go?”

Venom was silent for a long moment. It was answer enough.

“I’m glad it’s different between us,” Eddie said softly.

**Next time you will wake up back at home,** Venom promised. Eddie opened their mouth to argue, but held himself back.

“Okay, you know what,” he conceded. “That’s a fair compromise.”

Venom preened. A few black strands ran between Eddie’s fingers, and he squeezed them back. They reached the bottom of the stairs and Eddie squinted against the sun. By they time they made it home, it was high in the sky. Eddie closed the door to their apartment and collapsed on the couch. The Venom-pants melted away and Eddie’s keys and wallet landed on the pillows beside them. A few black tendrils coiled in Eddie’s lap, and he petted them fondly.

“No more surprises, okay?”

Venom hesitated. **Okay.** Eddie sat bonelessly for a minute before pulling himself up and dragging himself into the bathroom. He turned on the shower and pulled off his shirt as the water heated up. Something was on his chest. Before he could get a clear look at it, the ink began to seep guiltily out of his skin. Venom was conspicuously silent.

“Did we… get a tattoo last night?”

**No.**

“What was it of?” Eddie asked.

**Doesn’t matter.**

Eddie looked at their reflection. “Okay,” he said, and smiled.


End file.
